Re-centring class-making across borders at various durées: Translocational optic, coloniality of class theory and multi-scalar capitalist dynamics

Abstract

Sociological research on cross-border class-making often centres on contemporary dynamics of social inequality in the context of migration and mobility. Relying on the cultural–sociological and processual understanding of 'class', the article integrates three bodies of literature to study complexities of global and transnational class-making to overcome the 'presentist' bias. Building on the accounts of the Annales School, and specifically on Fernand Braudel's famous distinction between courte durée, moyenne durée and longue durée of historic time periods, the article brings together three different bodies of research: (i) transnational and intersectional approaches; (ii) conceptual history of class theory and (iii) theories of racial and multi-scalar capitalist dynamics to develop a flexible and relational, but historic-sensitive toolkit for the analysis of global and transnational class-making. One of the greatest advantages of this multi-temporal outlook is that it allows to avoid over-generalizing accounts on the logics of class-making and to unpick potentially heterogeneous dynamics of class (re)production.